Jackie Skelly fitness - Ballsbridge

scaryfairy

Hi

I am going to have a look at Jackies Skelly Fitness/Ballsbridge later today. Does anybody have any experience with them? the price quoted over the phone didn't sound too bad, and they do have a pool, which is mostly what I am looking for, but it would be great to have some informal feedback...

many thanks
sf

Hanley

Be aware that their contract conditions are tighter than a camels arse in a ...... before you sign anything. Get copies of everything too. Do a search and have a read of peoples feedback.

scaryfairy

oh my goodness that sounds scary - I told them on the phone that I only want to join for 6 months as I will be gone after that. other than the scary legal business, would you recommend it?

many thanks
sf

j@utis

I quit JS in Greystones a year ago (after 2 years of membership). I signed cancellation form and few days later asked if my cancellation went through and that was confirmed. But they are still sending me those letters looking for a 'missed payments'. Remembering their mouldy showers/changing room and mucky pool water still gives me shivers :mad: Would never ever recommend that gym to anyone.
Currently I'm a member of a gym without pool and I'm absolutely pleased with it.

scaryfairy

thanks [EMAIL="j@utis"]j@utis[/EMAIL] - doesn't sound good, does it... and read some more horror stories about them. I had arranged an appointment with them for 6pm but couldn't find the place! guess that's fate, so won't have to worry about them anymore:P

what about westwood sandymount? the pool with seawater sounds cool and it's much closer to where I live/work (and what a cool area to walk/cycle around!)

thanks
sf

Gator

Absoulute joke of a company and a gym, left because they are incapable of wiping their own arses without somekind of a 6 month binding contract.

Over heard one of their 'consultants' talking to a polish girl who was saying she she was told no joining fee on the phone, when she came in the 'consultant' was saying thet 'it was ony 25 euro' and 'it wasnt that much was it now'.

The gym is a joke, always packed, in the basement, reception staff are the rudest people I have ever encountered.

Left there and joined RAW condition (as I am paying half of what they were charging).

If your looking for somewhere around there there is the ESB gym on shelbourne rd, I hear its quite good and the prices are reasonable, also, theres a YMCA off serpatine ave which is cheap as chips.

scaryfairy

Hi Gator,

many thanks for the review and the recommendations. Just one question: the horrible gym, staff etc, is it about Jackie Skelly or the westwood sandymount (in my last post I asked about this one too)? just been to the latter, looks nice and the pool looks so cooooool.....

many thanks
sf

Gator

Sorry, it was JS, Westwood is pretty cool aswell actually.

scaryfairy

thanks Gator - will have a think about it but starting to lean towards Westwood Sandym. (hard to resist that spa feeling.....)
cheers
sf

Hanley

If you do go with JS, make sure you EXPRESSLY get a contract stating you're only joining for 6 months. This is ultra important.

As soon as you get it, review it immediately to see how much notice you have to give before you intend to leave. Pretty much all their contracts, even the "year" ones are rolling. So if you intend to leave at the end, you need to put this in writing 9 months into it. 3 in your case. And get everything signed, documented and copied too.

celestial

A good alternative for you could be Sportsco - www.sportsco.ie - it's v near Ballsbridge - few mins from Shelbourne Rd in Ringsend.

You also have Club Vitae in the maldron hotel off Pearse Street - good gym in there.

Elphaba

Wow, I'm glad to see it wasn't just me who thought JS were a joke. Like a previous poster, I left after the year, sent my letter, rang to confirm it had been received. They said there was only one person who could tell me and she wasn't available. I rang almost every day for a full month and every single time they'd say she was on lunch or on a break or out of the office. In the end I gave up. I stopped the direct debit and the very next day they started ringing me looking for payment. I went apesh1t on the phone! It was great! I got to vent all the stress from the past month! They sent me a few letters after that loooking for money which went straight in the bin. Haven't got one in a while now. I dunno how their collections staff make the calls cos they must be gettign an awful amount of abuse!

DamoKen

Hanley wrote: »

If you do go with JS, make sure you EXPRESSLY get a contract stating you're only joining for 6 months. This is ultra important.

As soon as you get it, review it immediately to see how much notice you have to give before you intend to leave. Pretty much all their contracts, even the "year" ones are rolling. So if you intend to leave at the end, you need to put this in writing 9 months into it. 3 in your case. And get everything signed, documented and copied too.

even that might not be enough. we joined on a 3 month special deal on the express understanding it would only be for 3 months. Even had written on the contract "Customer moving to New Zealand" and the date of the move. Sure enough like clockwork they debited us again after the 3 months. Weeks of calling ensued with the standard reply the managers in a meeting. Tried a new tact and rang every JS gym at different times and lo and behold, all managers were always in a meeting!
Couldn't even cancel the direct debit as they were making withdrawls directly against our laser card. Only way to stop that was to cancel the card. In the end rang up pretending to be a solicitor and threatened them with legal action for illegal billing practises, breach of contract and whatever else we could think of that sounded legal. Girl we talked to was the receptionist we'd been fobbed off by on umpteen occasions. In our new legal capacity asked her job title and this time she was now the accounts manager. All money debited reappeared like magic in our account the next day.

Chancers!!! How they are still allowed operate is beyond me, would never ever have anything to do with them again.

/rant

Zamboni

celestial wrote: »

A good alternative for you could be Sportsco - www.sportsco.ie - it's v near Ballsbridge - few mins from Shelbourne Rd in Ringsend.

+1

Best alternative in that area by a long shot.

j2u

Best adivice i could give is dont sign the contract , Their customer service is terrible and they are only interested in getting your money, Their really hungry for it. I signed up before and paid a €90 sign up fee and then €60 a month and then i signed up again in febuary for an eventual price of €49 a month, 3 times they went on and off the phone to double check with the manager when i refused to pay each price they were throwing at me,and then when i said i could be up to sign the contract in a few days they said that the offer they were offering me only lasts the weekend and there boss wont be here then so they wanted me and a friend of mine who was a first time customer to sign the contract the next morning, well my friend was sick so we never actually signed anything the next day and when we went to the gym the next week and told some guy at the desk our name he handed us 2 envelopes with our contracts but we never signed the contact nor did we actually see it, We just signed up over the phone and the contract the guy gave us was just a contract with all the details filled out except for the signature.My wages have been reduced by 25% and im now im earning a bit more than minimum wage and i have a car to pay off and other bills so i cancelled the direct debit and they rang me and say i owe them €441 for the remaining 9 months on the contract , She kept saying that under the contract i owe them this money and i kept saying i never signed it so how could possibly be in debt to them for 9 months on a contract they seen and filled out for me.They also sent a letter to my house addressed to the Parent of myself , which i assume is to try to worry my parents into thinking that im in debt. My Advice Stay Away or at least refuse to sign that contract.

Elphaba

DamoKen wrote: »

Couldn't even cancel the direct debit as they were making withdrawls directly against our laser card. Only way to stop that was to cancel the card
/rant

Oh yeah I had to cancel my visa too cos I had paid the joining fee on that. Arrrggghhh I hate them!!!

crotalus667

Elphaba wrote: »

Oh yeah I had to cancel my visa too cos I had paid the joining fee on that. Arrrggghhh I hate them!!!

Did you make a complaint against them to visa ?? (The parent company can take away their ability to charge card's )

scaryfairy

wow what a nightmare you guys had to go through. that's so bad. :mad:.
thanks for saving me from this hellish experience. looked at the sportco.ie website, looks really good. I just know I would hardly ever use it as it's a bit further than I would ever go (it;s a completely reasonable distance from UCD I just know myself I would be too lazy to go). Westwood Sandymount would be perfect, but having second thoughts about spending that much money...

j@utis

and one more thing to add: myself and my bf know at least 5 people who are still getting threatening letters from JS after they have cancelled their JS memberships. it looks like JS staff are 'accidently' 'loosing' the cancellation forms...

Hanley

In fairness now, if peopel are wimping out mid way thru a 12 month contract (or whatever period was agreed upon) then they are in the wrong.

Buuuuut if they originally signed up for a 12 month one and weren't warned about the stupid 3 month notice of cancellation I think they're dead right.

scaryfairy

hi

just wanted to thank you all for your replies. In the end, I have signed up for a 3-month deal with Westwood Sandymount - it's the closest to where I live + work, and I simply fell in love with the pool. I had my "induction" yesterday, waso ok, and used the pool which is really fantastic, and the whole place is very clean, etc, and they have a ladies only gym section, too.
Fyi, they also have this policy of 2-month notice: even though I signed a 3-month contract, I have to give a notice in 1 month if I want the 3-month contract to run for 3 months, otherwise it keeps on renewing itself automatically... bizarre. . In fairness to them, they did explain this before I signed.

thanks again.
cheers
Sf

firstapache

scaryfairy wrote: »

hi

just wanted to thank you all for your replies. In the end, I have signed up for a 3-month deal with Westwood Sandymount - it's the closest to where I live + work, and I simply fell in love with the pool. I had my "induction" yesterday, waso ok, and used the pool which is really fantastic, and the whole place is very clean, etc, and they have a ladies only gym section, too.
Fyi, they also have this policy of 2-month notice: even though I signed a 3-month contract, I have to give a notice in 1 month if I want the 3-month contract to run for 3 months, otherwise it keeps on renewing itself automatically... bizarre. . In fairness to them, they did explain this before I signed.

thanks again.
cheers
Sf

Hi Scary Fairy - do you mind me asking how much you paid for a three month membership? Did you have to pay an induction fee? I didn't know that they did three month contracts.

scaryfairy

Hi

I had to pay a joining fee - 100 euros instead of 390 or sth, thanks to a corporate deal with my employer.

monthly fee: 95 euros... a lot I know but cannot commit to a 12-month contract as I will be gone in 5.5 months.

so far very happy with it and hoping that paying a fortune will push me to use it 4-5 times a week and I will be all mean and lean:D